Broken Promises

A new report has surfaced that the American and Afghani governments have reached an agreement that would set forth guidelines for continued American involvement in Afghanistan for years to come, including pay for Afghani soldiers combined with military outposts and training in the country.

On the heels of the failed Obamacare rollout, this is stunning.  When the President was elected, he made two very strong promises regarding our military operations abroad:  We would be withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan and we would be shutting down Gitmo.  With the new announcement, it's apparent, that neither promise will be kept.  This raises several concerns, not to mention that there are implications beyond the broken promises to the American people.

First and foremost, can President Obama be trusted anymore?  Since the disastrous Obamacare rollout, the President has been hammered from both sides for repeatedly promising that citizens could keep their doctors and their health plans, both of which, it is appearing, were bold-faced lies.  The Gitmo promise has been acknowledged but largely ignored because it affects so few people directly.  Even so, it's a promise that candidate Obama made that he's broken, and no one seems the slightest bit concerned.

Obamacare hits people in the pocketbook and for that reason resonates; Gitmo was so far away it didn't matter.  But this recent broken promise splits the difference:  Despite being thousands of miles away, Americans will be in harm's way, ideal targets for Al Qaeda or any Afghani with a bone to pick.  The President is falling all over himself to make nice with the Afghans, going so far as to write a letter apologizing for mistakes made during the way, which was prompted by that gifted diplomat John Kerry.  What neither of these tools seem to realize is that the only things feared or respected by the people over there are force and muscle.

Underlying this incredibly boneheaded maneuver is the fact that military spending has been cut.  Not only are forces being reduced, spending on military hardware is being cut back severely.  That means that although we're going to pay the Afghans to defend themselves -- and no doubt give them hardware for which we'll never be paid -- our troops will be underpaid and undersupplied, making their sacrifices that much more difficult.  Meanwhile, the President has repeatedly promised that he was going to ensure that our military was the best in the world.  Simply declaring it to be so doesn't make it so; the military relies on morale and materiel, and with funds being cut and reductions being made, the troops are more stressed than ever, with concerns on the home front, problems with supplies and hardware, lack of replacements in men and materiel and the continuing specter of blue on green attacks.

At some point, the people have to begin to call out both the President for his lies, the Democrats for conspiring to assist him maintain the lies and the MSM for turning a blind eye to all of it.  But conservatives also bear some responsibility for this, insofar as they have not put forth a plan with any traction that can restore them to power.  With the midterm elections coming up, this is the time for Republicans to start acting like they can govern.  They can't just sit back and complain about the waywardness of the Democratic party; they have to put forth viable plans that actually entice the people to place their trust in them as leaders.

But still, this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  Without greater discernment on the part of the populace, without the testicular fortitude to make difficult choices, we'll surrender our sovereignty to a bunch of technocrats.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles